Weathering with dummies

Henri

Henri

refuses to grow up
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So this dummy is starting with weathering! I have two practice subjects, an already two times painted postal wagon and one flat car, which at the moment is still orange (aren’t they all orange?!).
The postal van is not in use anymore, I got it when I just started with the hobby when ‘you get what you can afford’ (well, that’s how it started for me...)

The flat car is used frequently as it has the cleaning blocks underneath, but being orange it is quickly removed from the tracks after it has done it’s duty. So this one will hopefully see more use with a more fitting color.

The last couple of weeks I have seen many Youtube vidS (I hate Youtube...) about weathering. There are many techniques and some of them I think are quite interesting to try myself. As I am a complete dummy in this area, I think it might be fun to post my endeavors here for people to help me on my way and to prevent others from making the mistakes I did.

The first test today was ‘washing’. Using a dab of paint and thin it to the max and just paint your model with this watery stuff. I first tried a dark brown acryl paint (Action) with lotsa water. It didn’t apply as smoothly as I would like and using brown suggest rust and I’ve never seen rusted planks...
The enamel was a dab of Humbrol black with some ‘thinner’. This worked a bit better and the color is not ‘rust’ but just dirty. I’ll post more pics tomorrow when it has dried.

A nifty trick I saw recently is using hairspray and immediately apply chalk dust. The effect was amazing imitating dirt and rust.

Also I got pigments from Vallejo (?) with which I’m going to experiment (rust brown).

97170992-ABF4-4DFD-BF7C-E84F1B6636AC.jpeg
Of course I had to alter the flat car a little... The strange rectangular holes are filled, the hose on the buffer beam is removed and the hole filled and the buffer beam itself is made less high (as per RTM)

9AFFF1D5-4F6B-4DC3-8B5A-92A612F41A54.jpeg
Action stuff. Chalc, brushes I can abuse, acrylic paint in several colors and clear coats, one with ‘frosted’ effect to tame down high gloss colors.

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First attempts. Left lower corner is acrylic brown, above and right of brown is Humbrol enamel black. Where the right part is a bit ‘thicker‘ applied than the area above the brown.
I used a towel to get the excess of the brown acryl off, the black is untouched.
 
Henri said:
So this dummy is starting with weathering! I have two practice subjects, an already two times painted postal wagon and one flat car, which at the moment is still orange (aren’t they all orange?!).
The postal van is not in use anymore, I got it when I just started with the hobby when ‘you get what you can afford’ (well, that’s how it started for me...)

The flat car is used frequently as it has the cleaning blocks underneath, but being orange it is quickly removed from the tracks after it has done it’s duty. So this one will hopefully see more use with a more fitting color.

The last couple of weeks I have seen many Youtube vidS (I hate Youtube...) about weathering. There are many techniques and some of them I think are quite interesting to try myself. As I am a complete dummy in this area, I think it might be fun to post my endeavors here for people to help me on my way and to prevent others from making the mistakes I did.

The first test today was ‘washing’. Using a dab of paint and thin it to the max and just paint your model with this watery stuff. I first tried a dark brown acryl paint (Action) with lotsa water. It didn’t apply as smoothly as I would like and using brown suggest rust and I’ve never seen rusted planks...
The enamel was a dab of Humbrol black with some ‘thinner’. This worked a bit better and the color is not ‘rust’ but just dirty. I’ll post more pics tomorrow when it has dried.

A nifty trick I saw recently is using hairspray and immediately apply chalk dust. The effect was amazing imitating dirt and rust.

Also I got pigments from Vallejo (?) with which I’m going to experiment (rust brown).

View attachment 265160
Of course I had to alter the flat car a little... The strange rectangular holes are filled, the hose on the buffer beam is removed and the hole filled and the buffer beam itself is made less high (as per RTM)

View attachment 265161
Action stuff. Chalc, brushes I can abuse, acrylic paint in several colors and clear coats, one with ‘frosted’ effect to tame down high gloss colors.

View attachment 265162
First attempts. Left lower corner is acrylic brown, above and right of brown is Humbrol enamel black. Where the right part is a bit ‘thicker‘ applied than the area above the brown.
I used a towel to get the excess of the brown acryl off, the black is untouched.
Click to expand...
Well your first tentative steps are paying off as apparently has the YT watching, next experiment with a little dry brushing. A tiny bit of white on a stiff brush, wipe most of it off and gently flick over the detail. This method really enhances the detail.
 
Excellent start, I do like to see stock weathered to get rid of the factory shine and make it look more realistic, although I quite understand those who prefer to keep their models pristine.

I see you are using a mix of paint types. The brown you used was acrylic - acrylics usually dry very quickly leaving little time for you to do anything with it after application. While the black was enamel which takes hours to dry giving you plenty of time to work with it.

Experts usually say you shouldn’t mix enamels and acrylics, but I do and it seems to work provided the paint is fully dried before applying more. I’ve done loads of weathering in smaller scales and normally do the detailed work with enamels, including dark wash into panel lines, between planks etc, rust patches, grease, streaks etc. It usually looks overdone at this stage. Once that has dried for several days, I airbrush very light coats acrylics, roof dirt, frame dirt and dark grey/black onto the sides. Sometimes I’ll end with a very light spray of matt varnish, but some varnishes, especially if a thick coat is applied, can actually remove some of the paint.

Once I’ve got my layout finished, I’ll have to weather all my stock so I will be following your progress with interest.
 
Welcome to the weathering pool Henri. Once you decide to jump in you can't really go wrong. I especially like what you did on post 4. It looks great.
 
Yes, those last two, are a little too heavy. IMHO..

I think you are using the wrong application method? - A brush would be so much more controllable, than a dummy! :p:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Excellent, as always, Henri!
 
Have a look at G-Riks blog How I weather my wagons
He used the "salt" method to weather his Simplex How I constructed a plate frame Simplex loco from an IP Engineering kit
In Aust Vegemite (Marmite in the UK?) is sometimes used instead of salt as there is no need to apply it to wet paint.
One method to apply under chassis grime is to sit the wagon on some cardboard and spray some paint in a line in front of the wagon but not directly on it and let the overspray give the dirt and grime effect.
 
Paul M said:
Two different things, although the Love/Hate bit is the same and the same shaped jars
Click to expand...

Vegemite its the health food of the nation.
Replaces all the Vitamin B that the beer drinking destroys, and as it is made from the left overs from beer making "the circle is complete" (sorry Darth).
 
Henri said:
Study material. This is just about perfect. It is in good shape, well maintained, but with a smudge here and there. Oh and this is the look for new build wagons, the flat cars look is in the last piccie.

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Over the top:

View attachment 265288
Click to expand...
That RTM Bogie vehicle looks interesting. Though it was a van on first look, but it is an Open that has had extra height bars addd with later fitted post holders. Cattle Truck perhaps? Almost the sort of thing that you would see in Ireland the way it has been cobbled together.
 
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